I just received my score and went over the questions. I missed 11, 6 of those from RC. On the PTs leading up to the real thing, I was averaging anywhere from -0 to -3 on RC. Should I retake? I dream of going to Columbia, but more realistically, I want to ED at NYU. I know with my GPA of 3.6 & 170, it's basically hopeless, since I'm not a URM. Thanks for all of your advice in advance!

[edit]

I forgot to add that my PT average was 172. Lowest was 168 and highest 178.

TMC116 wrote:Yeah it isnt realistic with a 170 and a 3.6. You're right at their 25% as a URM.

If you retake though, you *have* to do better than a 170. If you slump and hit 160s, you're sunk

Just a thought...

I don't think that this is true at all.. no school outside the T6 will think twice about a 170/167 for example (which are the schools he/she would be looking at with the current numbers anyway).. in OP's case I would say that there is no harm in retaking

TMC116 wrote:Yeah it isnt realistic with a 170 and a 3.6. You're right at their 25% as a URM.

If you retake though, you *have* to do better than a 170. If you slump and hit 160s, you're sunk

Just a thought...

I don't think that this is true at all.. no school outside the T6 will think twice about a 170/167 for example (which are the schools he/she would be looking at with the current numbers anyway).. in OP's case I would say that there is no harm in retaking

Do a lot of people score lower? As I said in the first post, my average was higher and the section I did the worst is the section I usually do a lot better in.

ams wrote:I think a retake is advisable here if you really want Columbia or NYU. Some people score lower but not most (I retook a 167 and got a 177). How long did you study and how many PTs did you take?

I studied from January, but I took a couple weeks off here and there. I took every PT from 19 to 61. The thing that's nagging at me is that I got 6 wrong in RC, when I usually got 0-3 wrong. The first passage, Kate Chopin, really threw me off and I was thinking about it during the entire section. How did you study for your retake, if you don't mind me asking?

glitched wrote:i took it in october, got a 170, averaged around 169, high at 178, got into one of my dream schools, and i STILL wish i retook because of one thing....

scholarships.

This is wonderful advice. The potential scholarship money alone is worth a retake. Also, you will likely need a higher LSAT to get NYU. Once you get the new score you will be money. NYU says they average, but they didn't in my case, so don't worry about that.

how did you do on the other sections compared to your average? If you ended up getting the same number of questions incorrect on the test- then I would say to probably retake only if you know you can do better on the entire test as a whole. If you know that RC was an abnormal section for you- and that the rest of the test went well- then retake.

glitched wrote:i took it in october, got a 170, averaged around 169, high at 178, got into one of my dream schools, and i STILL wish i retook because of one thing....

scholarships.

This is wonderful advice. The potential scholarship money alone is worth a retake. Also, you will likely need a higher LSAT to get NYU. Once you get the new score you will be money. NYU says they average, but they didn't in my case, so don't worry about that.

Good luck.

Curious....how do you know they didn't in your case? Did you have 1 very low score and 1 very high score and they still let you in?

glitched wrote:i took it in october, got a 170, averaged around 169, high at 178, got into one of my dream schools, and i STILL wish i retook because of one thing....

scholarships.

This is wonderful advice. The potential scholarship money alone is worth a retake. Also, you will likely need a higher LSAT to get NYU. Once you get the new score you will be money. NYU says they average, but they didn't in my case, so don't worry about that.

Good luck.

Curious....how do you know they didn't in your case? Did you have 1 very low score and 1 very high score and they still let you in?

And even if they did that in your case, it does not mean that it is their policy. Retaking a 170 should not be done lightly

"Retake" is autoresponse on TLS. But 172 was your average, a couple of point drop from the average is normal and you got a 170 which is a great score. If you retake maybe you could get a 173, does a 170,173 look appreciably better than 170?

Thanks to everyone who replied! I signed up for the retake because I think I just had a bad RC section. This time around, I'm going to just focus on the question/passage at hand and not dwell on the previous ones. Now it's time to find/make a retake study schedule. Any suggestions?